OREANDA-NEWS. September 10, 2010. Caspian Pipeline Consortium together with the local office of RF Ministry of Emergencies ran a comprehensive emergency oil spill response drill at the Kuban River crossing in Abinsky District of Krasnodar Krai, reported the press-centre of CPC.  

The drill objective was to see if the CPC emergency response units are prepared to repair a pipeline rupture, contain and respond to an emergency oil spill both onshore and offshore, and collaborate with the local office of RF Ministry of Emergencies and the environment protection agencies of Krasnodar Krai. The drill involved over 100 personnel, 37 special machinery, 44 vehicles and 75 equipment items.

In parallel with the drill a crisis management table top exercise was conducted in the Moscow Office of Caspian Pipeline Consortium that used the same scenario as the comprehensive drill. The exercise participants addressed various issues that surfaced in the course of the emergency response effort, looked into the potential implications and plotted the crisis management actions including but not limited to those to be taken in the information space. During the table-top exercise the participants mustered their public and media relation skills, reacted to the media reports and telephone calls from the families of the injured.

This drill is a part of the long-term CPC Crisis Management Improvement Program. The drill helped to improve the coordination between the CPC management and specialists in the event of crisis, improve the crisis management and mitigation skills and field-test the coordination between CPC and external stakeholders.

“Obviously such drills are very instrumental in achieving our primary goal, which is to ensure flawless operation of CPC pipeline in the manner that is safe for both people and environment” said Alexander Tarakanov summing up the drill results.

The CPC pipeline system is the largest oil movement route from the Caspian to international markets. This mainline pipeline is 1,511 km long, connecting Western Kazakhstan fields with the Black Sea coast. Russian crude is injected into the pipeline system at the Kropotkin PS in the Krasnodar Krai. CPC Marine Terminal is equipped with single-point moorings that allow tankers to be loaded safety at a significant distance offshore, including poor weather conditions.